China pork producer WH Group quarterly profit falls 21%
Lower sales and weak prices drag down revenue
Beijing — Chinese pork producer WH Group on Monday reported a 21% fall in first-quarter attributable profit, dragged down by weak fresh pork prices in all markets and lower sales volumes in the US. Higher raw material and other costs in China and oversupply in the US hog market hurt overall profits, said the company, the world’s largest pork producer. The average hog price in the US fell 17% in the quarter versus the same period in 2018. WH Group said attributable profit, before biological fair value adjustments, decreased by 21.3% to $196m, while operating profit fell by 10% to $341m. The group, which owns US-based Smithfield Foods, said a later Easter holiday compared with 2018 undermined sales of packaged meats in the US, and exchange rates in China also hit revenue that came in at $5.28bn, a 6% fall. Oversupply and weak prices in the US and Europe pushed operating losses in hog production to $168m from $13m in the quarter, it said. The group’s Chinese unit, Henan Shuanghui Inv...
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